Information storage medium, and apparatus for reproducing the same

ABSTRACT

An information storage medium includes: a plurality of unit audio information to be reproduced independently of each other; aggregate audio information each including one or more of the unit audio information; unit attribute information indicating attributes of the unit audio information included in the aggregate audio information; and aggregate attribute information including the unit attribute information corresponding to the aggregate audio information recorded on the storage medium. By referring to the aggregate attribute information, the attributes of all the unit audio information may be readily and quickly obtained.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an information storage medium such asan optical disk of a high recording density type, which is capable ofrecording information such as video information, audio information andthe like at a high density, and which is represented by a DVD (DigitalVideo or Versatile Disk). The present invention also relates to arecording apparatus for recording the information onto the informationstorage medium, and a reproduction apparatus for reproducing theinformation from the information storage medium.

2. Description of the Related Art

Conventionally, a so-called LD (Laser Disk) and a so-called CD (CompactDisk) are generalized as optical disks, on which information such asvideo information, audio information and the like is recorded.

On the LD or the like, the video information and the audio informationare recorded together with time information indicating a time at whicheach information is to be reproduced with respect to a reproductionstart position of each LD or the like, serving as a standard position.Thus, in case of the CD for example, other than a normal reproduction toreproduce the recorded information in the order of recording, variousspecial reproductions are possible, such as a reproduction to extractand listen to only desirable music pieces out of a plurality of recordedmusic pieces, a reproduction to listen to the recorded music pieces in arandom order and so on.

However, there is a problem that, according to the above mentioned LD orthe like, a so-called interactive and variegated reproduction is notpossible in which the audience can have a plurality of selectionbranches as for the video or audio information to be displayed orsound-outputted and in which the audience can select them to watch orlisten to it.

Namely, it is impossible for a user to choose the language used in thesubtitle on the screen (e.g., from subtitle of Japanese and the originallanguage) in the case of watching a foreign movie recorded on a LD or tochoose the voices of a song (e.g., from English voices or Japanesevoices) in the case of listening to the music recorded on a CD.

Nowadays, apart from the above-mentioned conventional CD, it is proposedand developed a DVD which is an optical disc which disc size isidentical to CD and which recording capacity is enhanced to beapproximately ten times larger than that of CD. By recording thesubtitles and/or voices of plural languages on the DVD, the user canselect one of those plural languages to enjoy the interactive andvariegated playback.

In the DVD, plural audio information of various attributes such as thecoding mode, the sampling frequency, the quantization bit number, thenumber of channels, the emphasis added or not added and the like(hereinafter referred to as “audio attribute”) may be recorded in amixed manner on a single DVD.

However, when reproducing audio information of different audioattributes, the reproduction apparatus should perform appropriatereproduction in conformity with those different audio attributes. Forexample, when reproducing and outputting audio information from thespeaker, it is required to convert digital audio information recorded onthe DVD into analog audio information and then supply it to theamplifier and the speaker. In such a case, if two songs to besuccessively reproduced have different sampling frequencies (e.g., thefirst song has the sampling frequency of 48 kHz and the second song hasthe sampling frequency of 96 kHz), the reproduction apparatus recognizesthe different sampling frequencies for the first time when it readsaudio data of the second song, after the playback of the first song, andthen starts the processing to change the clock frequency of the D/Aconverter from 48 kHz to 96 kHz. However, it takes some time for the PLL(Phase Locked Loop) circuit to lock-in the changed frequency, and hencethe frequency change may not be completed before starting the playbackof the second song, thereby resulting in an incorrect playback of theinitial portion of the second song. Such a problem may take place notonly for the sampling frequency but for the difference of other audioattributes such as the quantization bit number, the emphasis added ornot added, and the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide aninformation storage medium from which recorded songs to be successivelyreproduced and having different audio attributes may be correctly andsmoothly reproduced in conformity with the different attributes.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a recordingapparatus for the above information storage medium, and a reproductionapparatus for the above information storage medium.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided aninformation storage medium including: a plurality of unit audioinformation to be reproduced independently of each other; aggregateaudio information each including one or more of the unit audioinformation; unit attribute information indicating attributes of theunit audio information included in the aggregate audio information; andaggregate attribute information including the unit attribute informationcorresponding to the aggregate audio information recorded on the storagemedium.

In accordance with the information storage medium, the plurality of unitaudio information and the aggregate audio information are recorded. Inaddition, the unit attribute information indicating attributes of theunit audio information is recorded, and further the unit attributeinformation for all aggregate audio information on the informationstorage medium is recorded as the aggregate attribute information.Therefore, by referring to the aggregate attribute information, theattributes of all the unit audio information may be readily and quicklyobtained.

In one preferred feature, the aggregate attribute information may berecorded at a position on the storage medium which is read prior to anyother portions. Therefore, the aggregate attribute information is readfirst when the information storage medium is set to a reproductionapparatus, thereby enabling the reproduction control based on theaggregate attribute information.

The aggregate attribute information may include information of at leasta sampling frequency and a quantization bit number used to a coding ofthe unit audio information, and a channel number.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction apparatus for an information storage medium including: aplurality of unit audio information to be reproduced independently ofeach other; aggregate audio information each including one or more ofthe unit audio information; unit attribute information indicatingattributes of the unit audio information included in the aggregate audioinformation; and aggregate attribute information including the unitattribute information corresponding to the aggregate audio informationrecorded on the storage medium, the apparatus including: a reading unitfor reading information from the information storage medium; a storageunit for storing the aggregate attribute information read by the readingunit; an input unit for receiving, from a user, a reproductioninstruction designating a plurality of unit audio information to bereproduced successively; and a reproduction unit for setting theattribute for the reproduction based on the aggregate attributeinformation stored in the storage unit and for reproducing the unitaudio information designated by the user in accordance with theattribute set, wherein the reproduction unit including: an obtainingunit for obtaining the attribute corresponding to each of the pluralityof unit audio information designated by the user from the aggregateattribute information stored in the storage unit; a determining unit fordetermining whether or not the obtained attributes of the unit audioinformation to be successively reproduced are identical; and anattribute change unit for starting an attribute setting of the unitaudio information to be reproduced next immediately after thereproduction of the unit audio information currently reproduced, if thedetermining unit determines that the attributes are different.

According to similar aspect of the present invention, there is provideda reproduction method of an information storage medium including: aplurality of unit audio information to be reproduced independently ofeach other; aggregate audio information each including one or more ofthe unit audio information; unit attribute information indicatingattributes of the unit audio information included in the aggregate audioinformation; and aggregate attribute information including the unitattribute information corresponding to the aggregate audio informationrecorded on the storage medium, the method including the steps of:reading the aggregate attribute information from the information storagemedium to store the read information into a storage unit; receiving,from a user, a reproduction instruction designating a plurality of unitaudio information to be reproduced successively; setting the attributefor the reproduction based on the aggregate attribute information storedin the storage unit; and reproducing the unit audio informationdesignated by the user in accordance with the attribute set, wherein thereproducing step including the steps of: obtaining the attributescorresponding to each of the plurality of unit audio informationdesignated by the user from the aggregate attribute information storedin the storage unit; determining whether or not the attributes of theunit audio information to be reproduced successively are identical; andstarting an attribute setting of the unit audio information to bereproduced next immediately after the reproduction of the unit audioinformation currently reproduced, if it is determined in the determiningstep that the attributes are different.

In accordance with the apparatus and the method, first the aggregateattribute information is read out from the information storage mediumand then is stored in the storage unit. Next, the user inputs thereproduction instruction designating a plurality of unit audioinformation to be reproduced successively. The attributes are set basedon the aggregate attribute information stored in the storage unit, andthe unit audio information designated by the user are reproduced inaccordance with the attributes thus set. Specifically in thereproduction, the attribute for each of the unit audio informationdesignated by the user is obtained from the aggregate attributeinformation in the storage unit, and then it is determined whether ornot the attributes of the unit audio information to be successivelyreproduced are identical. If the attributes are different, the attributeof the unit audio information to be reproduced next is set immediatelyafter the reproduction of the unit audio information currentlyreproduced.

Therefore, since the attribute of the unit audio information to bereproduced next can be obtained from the aggregate attributeinformation, the attribute change of the reproduction apparatus may bereadily and quickly performed even if the attributes of the unit audioinformation to be successively reproduced are different and hence theattribute change is required in the reproduction apparatus.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there isprovided a reproduction apparatus for an information storage mediumincluding: a plurality of unit audio information to be reproducedindependently of each other; aggregate audio information each includingone or more of the unit audio information; and unit attributeinformation indicating attributes of the unit audio information includedin the aggregate audio information, the apparatus including: a readingunit for reading information from the information storage medium; atable producing unit for obtaining the unit attribute informationcorresponding to the aggregate audio information recorded on the storagemedium from the reading unit and for producing an aggregate attributeinformation table; a storage unit for storing the aggregate attributeinformation table produced by the table producing unit; an input unitfor receiving, from a user, a reproduction instruction designating aplurality of the unit audio information to be reproduced successively;and a reproduction unit for setting the attribute for the reproductionbased on the aggregate attribute information table stored in the storageunit and for reproducing the unit audio information designated by theuser in accordance with the attribute set, wherein the reproduction unitincluding: an obtaining unit for obtaining the attributes correspondingto each of the plurality of unit audio information designated by theuser from the aggregate attribute information table stored in thestorage unit; a determining unit for determining whether or not theobtained attributes of the unit audio information to be successivelyreproduced are identical; and an attribute change unit for starting anattribute setting of the unit audio information to be reproduced nextimmediately after the reproduction of the unit audio informationcurrently reproduced, if the determining unit determines that theattributes are different.

In the similar aspect of the present invention, there is provided areproduction method of an information storage medium including: aplurality of unit audio information to be reproduced independently ofeach other; aggregate audio information each including one or more ofthe unit audio information; and unit attribute information indicatingattributes of the unit audio information included in the aggregate audioinformation, the apparatus including: reading the unit attributeinformation corresponding to the aggregate audio information recorded onthe storage medium to produce an aggregate attribute information table;storing the aggregate attribute information table produced into astorage unit; receiving, from a user, a reproduction instructiondesignating a plurality of unit audio information to be reproducedsuccessively; setting the attribute for the reproduction based on theaggregate attribute information table stored in the storage unit; andreproducing the unit audio information designated by the user inaccordance with the attribute set, wherein the reproducing stepincluding the steps of: obtaining the attributes corresponding to eachof the plurality of unit audio information designated by the user fromthe aggregate attribute information table stored in the storage unit;determining whether or not the attributes of the unit audio informationto be successively reproduced are identical; and starting an attributesetting of the unit audio information to be reproduced next immediatelyafter the reproduction of the unit audio information currentlyreproduced, if it is determined in the determining step that theattributes are different.

In accordance with the apparatus and the method, first the aggregateattribute information for all aggregate audio on the information storagemedium is read out from the information storage medium and the aggregateattribute information table is produced and stored in the storage unit.Next, the user inputs the reproduction instruction designating aplurality of unit audio information to be reproduced successively. Theattributes are set based on the aggregate attribute information tablestored in the storage unit, and the unit audio information designated bythe user are reproduced in accordance with the attributes thus set.Specifically in the reproduction, the attribute for each of the unitaudio information designated by the user is obtained from the aggregateattribute information table in the storage unit, and then it isdetermined whether or not the attributes of the unit audio informationto be successively reproduced are identical. If the attributes aredifferent, the attribute of the unit audio information to be reproducednext is set immediately after the reproduction of the unit audioinformation currently reproduced.

Therefore, since the attribute of the unit audio information to bereproduced next can be obtained from the aggregate attribute informationtable, the attribute change of the reproduction apparatus may be readilyand quickly performed even if the attributes of the unit audioinformation to be successively reproduced are different and hence theattribute change is required in the reproduction apparatus.

In a preferred embodiment, the reproduction unit may include a searchunit for transferring the reading unit to a recording position on theinformation storage medium of the unit audio information to bereproduced next immediately after the reproduction of the unit audioinformation currently reproduced, and for allowing the reproduction unitto start reproduction of the unit audio information to be reproducednext after a predetermined waiting time has passed from the start of thetransfer of the reading unit.

With this arrangement, when the reproduction of one unit audioinformation ends, the reading position is transferred to the recordingposition of the unit audio information to be reproduced next, and thenthe reproduction thereof is started. Therefore, if the attribute of theunit audio information to be reproduced next is different from that ofthe unit audio information unit currently reproduced, it is ensured thatthe reproduction is started after the appropriate attribute change iscompleted.

Preferably, the waiting time is longer than a time required to changethe set attribute by the attribute change unit.

The nature, utility, and further features of this invention will be moreclearly apparent from the following detailed description with respect topreferred embodiments of the invention when read in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings briefly described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a physical structure of recorded informationof a DVD according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a logical structure of recorded informationof a DVD according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a structure of an audio pack;

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a recording manner of audioattribute information and audio centralized information;

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing contents of audio attribute informationrecorded in VTS;

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing contents of audio centralized information;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of aninformation recording apparatus for a DVD according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of schematically showing a configuration of aninformation reproduction apparatus for a DVD according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram schematically showing a configuration of anaudio decoder shown in FIG. 8; and

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing a control for successive playback ofsongs.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of thepresent invention will be now explained. The following explanations willbe done for the embodiments, in which the present invention is appliedto the aforementioned DVD.

In the following embodiments, constitutional elements listed on a righthand side in a following list respectively construct the examples ofconstitutional elements of the present invention listed on a left handside in the following list.

Unit audio information: Track (corresponding to PGC)

Aggregate audio information: Group (corresponding to VTS)

Unit attribute information:

-   -   Audio attribute information in each VTS

Aggregate attribute information:

-   -   Audio attribute information in each audio centralized        information        [I] Embodiment of Information Storage Medium

(1) Physical and Logical Format of DVD

First of all, a physical structure and a logical structure as well as anoperation of a DVD, as one embodiment of the information storage mediumto which the present invention is applied, will be explained withreference to FIGS. 1 to 6.

At first, a recording format of video information and audio information,including music information, on the DVD (i.e. a physical record format)is explained by use of FIG. 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a DVD 1 as the present embodiment is provided with alead-in area LI at its most inner circumferential portion and a lead-outarea LO at its most outer circumferential portion, between which videoinformation and audio information are recorded such that they aredivided into a plurality of VTSs (Video Title Set) 3, each of which hasa unique ID (Identification) number (i.e. VTS#1 to VTS#n). Here, the VTS3 is a set (bundle) of titles (each of which is one production or onework which an author or producer intends to offer to the audience),which are related to each other (e.g., which attribute, such as thenumber, the specification, the corresponding languages etc. of audio andvideo streams is the same to each other). More concretely, a pluralityof movies which are related to the same movie to each other but whichlanguages of serifs (lines) are different from each other may berecorded as different titles respectively, or even in case of the samemovies, the theater version and the special version may be recorded asdifferent titles respectively. Inside of the area where the VTSs 3 arerecorded, a video manager 2 is recorded as shown in FIG. 1. As theinformation recorded in the video manager 2, for example, informationrelated to the whole video and audio information recorded on the DVD 1,such as a menu for accessing each title, information for preventing anillegal copy, an access table for directly accessing each title and soon, is recorded.

One VTS 3 is recorded such that it is divided into a plurality of VOBs10, each of which has an ID number (VOB ID#1, VOB ID#2, . . . ), andcontrol data 11 disposed inside of the VOBs 10. Here, a data portionconstructed by a plurality of VOBs 10 is defined as a VOB set (VOBS) asshown in FIG. 1. This VOB set is defined to distinguish the VOB 10,which constructs one portion of the VTS 3 as the substantial portion ofthe video and audio information, from the control data 11, whichconstructs another portion of the VTS 3.

In the control data 11 recorded at the head of the VTS 3, informationsuch as PGCI (ProGram Chain Information), which is various informationrelated to a program chain as a logical division obtained by combining aplurality of cells (the “cell” will be described later in detail), isrecorded. In each VOB 10, the substantial portion of the video and audioinformation (i.e. the video and audio information itself other thancontrol information) besides the control information are recorded.

Further, one VOB 10 is constructed of a plurality of cells 20, each ofwhich has an ID number (cell ID#1 , cell ID#2, . . . ). Here, one VOB 10is constructed such that it is completed by the plurality of cells 20and that one cell 20 does not stride over two VOBs 10.

One cell 20 is constructed of a plurality of VOB units (VOBUs) 30, eachof which has an ID number (VOBU#1, VOBU#2, . . . ). Here, the VOB unit30 is an information unit, each of which includes one of the videoinformation, the audio information and sub picture information (which isdefined as information of a sub picture such as a subtitle of a movieetc.), or alternatively includes only a navi-pack described later.

One VOB unit 30 is provided with: a navi-pack (a navigation pack) 41 forstoring control information of video information included in the VOBunit 30; a video pack 42 including video data serving as videoinformation; an audio pack 43 including audio data serving as audioinformation; and a sub picture pack 44 including sub-picture dataserving as sub picture information. Here, only picture data is recordedas video data, and only sound data is recorded as audio data. Inaddition, only graphic data such as characters and diagrams serving assub-picture is recorded as sub-picture data. It is prescribed by astandard specification of the DVD that there are 8 kinds of audiorecordable on the DVD 1 while 32 kinds of sub picture recordable on theDVD 1.

The reproduction time for one VOB UNIT 30 (i.e., the reproduction timecorresponding to data recorded between a navi-pack 41 and the nextnavi-pack 41 neighboring thereto) is equal to or longer than 0.4 second.

Further, there always exists the navi-pack 41 in one VOB UNIT 30. On theother hand, there may not exist each of the video pack 42, the audiopack 43 and the sub picture pack 44 in one VOB UNIT 30, or, even in casethat these packs exist in one VOB UNIT 30, the number of the packs andthe order of the packs may be arbitrarily determined.

The respective divisions of the video pack 42, the audio pack 43 andsub-picture pack 44 are generally referred to as “pack P”. Namely, thevideo data, the audio data and the sub-picture data are recorded in oneVOB unit 30 in a manner divided into the respective packs P. Those packsare the recording units which are determined in accordance with the packprocessing of MPEG2 system, the MPEG2 system being used for recordinginformation onto the DVD 1 according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Further, the pack header recorded at the leading position of each pack Pincludes reading start time information and start code. The readingstart time information indicates the reading start time on the playbacktime axis, at which data included in the respective packs P should beread out from the track buffer (described later) in the reproductionapparatus to be supplied to the respective buffers, and is called asSystem Clock Reference. The start code indicates the beginning of thepack P. In each pack P, normally the video data, the audio data and thesub-picture data are recorded as packets which are the sub-dividedrecording units of the pack P. In the DVD 1 according to the embodimentof the present invention, one pack P generally is constructed by onepacket.

Finally, the navi-pack 41 is provided with: a DSI (Data SearchInformation) data 51 including search information to search video imagedesired to be displayed or audio sound desired to be outputted(concretely, search information such as an address on the DVD 1 wherethe video or audio information to be displayed or outputted isrecorded); and a PCI (Presentation Control Information) data 50including information related to a display control at the time ofdisplaying the video image or outputting the audio sound, which issearched on the basis of the information of the DSI data 51. The DSIdata 51 and the PCI data 50 are recorded to form the DSI packets and thePCI packets, respectively, as the packets PT.

Further, all video packs 42 included in one VOB unit 30 consist of atleast one GOP (Group Of Pictures). The GOP is a minimum image unit,reproducible by itself, determined in the standard of MPEG2 (MovingPicture Experts Group 2) which is employed for recording video imageinformation on the DVD 1 according to the embodiment of the presentinvention.

In the above explained recording format having a hierarchical structureas shown in FIG. 1, each division can be freely set according to theintention of the author, who produces information to be recorded on theDVD 1, so as to perform recording on the basis of these set divisions.By performing the reproduction on the basis of a later described logicalstructure for each of these divisions, the variegated reproduction canbe performed.

Nextly, a logical format (logical structure) constructed by combiningthe information recorded by the physical divisions shown in FIG. 1 isexplained with reference to FIG. 2. It is noted that the information isnot actually recorded on the DVD 1 in the logical structure of FIG. 2.Instead, information (e.g. access information or time information) toreproduce each data shown in FIG. 1 by combining them (especiallycombining the cells 20) in the logical structure shown in FIG. 2, isrecorded on the DVD 1, especially in the control data 11.

To make the explanation clear, the following explanation is made fromthe lower hierarchical layer in FIG. 2. One program 60 is logicallyconstructed on the basis of the author's intention by selecting andcombining a plurality of cells 20 among the physical structuresexplained by use of FIG. 1. The program 60 is also a minimum logicalunit, which division can be identified by a system controller of areproduction apparatus described later and which can be accessed by useof a command by the system controller. It is also possible for theauthor to define a gathering of one or more programs 60 as a minimumunit, which can be freely selected to be watched or listened to by theaudience and which is referred to as a PTT (ParT Of Title).

Since one program 60 is logically constructed by selecting a pluralityof cells 20, it is possible to use one cell commonly for a plurality ofprograms 60, namely to perform a so-called “alternative usage” of thecell 20 in which one cell 20 is reproduced in a plurality of differentprograms 60.

Here, as for the number of each cell 20, at a time of treating the cell20 on the physical format shown in FIG. 1, the number is treated as thecell ID number (which is indicated by cell ID # in FIG. 1). On the otherhand, at a time of treating the cell 20 on the logical format shown inFIG. 2, the number is treated as the cell number in the order ofdescription in the PGCI described later.

Next, by combining a plurality of programs 60, one PGC (Program Chain)61 is logically constructed on the basis of the author's intention. Theaforementioned PGCI (ProGram Chain Information) is defined by a unit ofthe PGC 61. The PGCI includes information indicating: the reproductionorder for each program 60 at a time of reproducing each program 60 (bythis reproduction order, a unique program number (#1, #2, . . . ) isassigned to each program 60); the reproduction order for each cell 20(by this reproduction order, a unique cell number is assigned to eachcell 20); an address which is a recording position of each cell 20 onthe DVD 1; the number of the cell 20 positioned at the head of oneprogram 60 to be firstly reproduced; a reproduction method for eachprogram 60; and various commands (e.g. commands able to be specified bythe author for each PGC 61 or each cell 20). The recording position ofthe PGCI on the DVD 1 may be in the control data 11 (see. FIG. 1) asaforementioned, or in the control data (see. FIG. 4) in the videomanager 2 if the pertinent PGCI is related to the menu in the videomanager 2.

In one PGC 61, the substantial video and audio data etc. are included asa combination of the programs 60 (in other words, the combination of thecells 20) other than the above mentioned PGCI.

Further, in one PGC 61, it is possible to perform the alternative usageof the cell 20 as explained before in the explanation for the program 60(i.e. such a usage that the same cell 20 is commonly used by a pluralityof different PGC 61). As the method of reproducing the cell 20 to beused, the author can select a method of reproducing the cells 20 in anorder regardless of the recording order on the DVD 1 (i.e. the method ofreproducing the cells discontinuously arranged, for example, the methodof reproducing the cell 20 prior which is recorded posterior on therecord track) other than a method of reproducing the cell 20 in therecording order on the record track on the DVD 1 as it is (i.e. themethod of reproducing the cells continuously arranged).

Then, one title 62 is logically constructed of one or a plurality ofPGCs 61 (PGC #1, PGC#2, . . . ) as shown in FIG. 2. The title 62 is, forexample, a unit corresponding to one movie, and is completed informationwhich the author would like to offer to the audience of the DVD 1.

Finally, one VTS 63 is logically constructed of one or a plurality oftitles 62 (title #1, title #2, . . . ). The title 62 included in the VTS63 has the attributes common to each other. For example, the moviesbased on one movie but in different languages or plural music albums ofa music artist correspond to the respective titles 62. The informationincluded in one VTS 63 shown in FIG. 2 corresponds to informationincluded in one VTS 3 shown in FIG. 1. Namely, all information includedin the logical VTS 63 shown in FIG. 2 is recorded as one VTS 3 in theDVD 1 shown in FIG. 1.

As the author specifies the information divided in the physicalstructure on the DVD 1 on the basis of the above described logicalformat, the video image or music for the audience to watch is to beformed.

Since it is necessary to record information of various hierarchicallayers, information according to the above-mentioned recording format isquite suitable for the DVD in which, in recording a movie, not only theinformation of the movie itself but also the sounds and/or subtitles,for various languages, of the movie are recorded on a single disk.

(2) Contents of Audio DVD

As mentioned above, video information, character information and audioinformation may be recorded on the DVD in a mixed manner. When recordinga movie on the DVD, the video information and the audio information arerecorded in pair with each other, and, if necessary, subtitles or thelike are additionally recorded as the sub-picture information.Alternatively to this, only audio information may be recorded on the DVDlike a CD, and in that case no video information is basically recorded.A DVD of this type will be hereinafter referred to as “Audio DVD”. Inthis case, more specifically, the VOB unit 30 shown in FIG. 1 includesthe navi-packs 41 and the plural audio packs 43, but does not includeany video pack and sub-picture pack, although a little amount of videoinformation, such as character information for use in selecting songs orintroduction of songs or advertisement, may be recorded. The presentinvention is particularly related to audio information, and it isassumed in the following description that only audio information isrecorded on the DVD.

Prior to the description of the embodiment of the present invention, arough description will be given of the recording manner of audioinformation on the audio DVD. The audio DVD has a recording capacitymuch larger than that of a CD, and a unique DVD can record musicinformation corresponding to a plurality of CDs. Here, it is assumedthat an aggregation of audio information corresponding to one CD iscalled as “group”. For example, it is assumed that there is an audio DVDon which plural original albums (e.g., four) of the Beatles such as “LETIT BE”, “ABBEY ROAD”, . . . are recorded. Audio informationcorresponding to the plural albums are recorded on the DVD as individualtitle sets (VTS 3 in FIG. 1). For example, “LET IT BE” is recorded inthe VTS #1, and “ABBEY ROAD” is recorded in the VTS #2. In such case,the aggregation of audio information, each corresponding to one album,constitutes a “Group”.

While one album corresponds to one Group in the above example, it ispossible to constitute a Group by an aggregation of audio informationcollected based on a certain theme or concept. For example, a collectionof songs that John Lennon takes the lead vocal, named “John Lennon VocalCollection” (e.g., VTS #5), and a collection of songs that PaulMcCartney takes the lead vocal, named “Paul McCartney Vocal Collection”(e.g., VTS #6), may be recorded in addition to the above original albumsof Beatles, and those collections also constitute the Groupscorresponding to one VTS, respectively. However, in that case in fact,the songs included in the above original albums are reproduced, and thesame songs that are recorded in the original albums are not recorded inthe VTS#5 or VTS#6 in the duplicated manner. Therefore, only thereproduction control information, such as address and attributes, ofaudio information recorded in the VTS#1, #2 are recorded in the VTS#5and VTS#6. The reproduction of the songs belonging to VTS#5, #6 areperformed by reproducing the substantial audio information recorded inthe VTS#1, #2 in accordance with the reproduction control informationrecorded in the VTS#5, #6. It is noted that such an aggregation of audioinformation collected based on a certain theme or concept is referred toas a “Collection”. Therefore, the Collection is a group including thesubstantial information that is recorded in other Group (VTS).

It is possible to understand that the Group corresponds to theaggregation of songs that a user recognizes. In the above mentionedexample, four original albums and two Collections are recorded on a DVD.In this case, the contents list attached to the DVD indicates that theDVD includes 6 different albums. In fact, the substantial information ofthe two Collections are constituted by the substantial informationrecorded in the four original albums, and no substantial audioinformation is recorded for multiple times in the duplicated manner.However, the user does not recognize such thing and simply thinks thatthe DVD includes 6 different albums. Therefore, in spite of therecording manner of the substantial audio information on the DVD, theGroup may be regarded as an aggregation of songs that the user canrecognize.

(3) Audio Attribute Information

Next, audio attribute information recorded on the DVD will be described.Audio attribute information indicates the attributes of audioinformation recorded on the DVD, and specifically includes the codingmode, the sampling frequency, the quantization bit number, the channelnumber, and application of emphasis. In the present invention, the audioattribute information is recorded in the audio pack 43, the control data11 in the VTS 3 and the control data in the video manager 2. This willbe described in more detail.

As described above, the audio information is recorded in the audio pack43, and the audio attribute information is firstly recorded in the audiopack 43. FIG. 3 shows the contents of the audio pack 43. The audioinformation is classified into two types, i.e., a first type in whichcompressed audio data is recorded and a second type in whichnon-compressed audio data such as linear PCM data is recorded. Here, theaudio information of the second type is exemplified. Namely, FIG. 3shows the contents of the audio pack 43 in which the audio data of linerPCM coding mode is recorded.

As shown, the audio pack 43 is constituted by a pack header 64 and anaudio packet APT. The pack header 64 includes reading start timeinformation which is control information used at the time of reproducingdata in each pack P and a start code indicating the beginning of thepack P. In addition, the audio packet APT includes a packet header 65including information indicating that the data in the audio pack 43 isaudio data, sub-stream ID information 66 including informationindicating whether the audio data in the audio pack 43 is compressedaudio data or non-compressed audio data such as the linear PCM data, andaudio frame information 67 including audio frame number information.

Further, the audio pack 43 includes the audio attribute information 68related to the attributes of the audio data in the audio pack 43. In thecase of the linear PCM data, the audio data attribute information 68includes the sampling frequency, the quantization bit number, channelnumber of audio data (one channel is constituted by audio data outputtedfrom one speaker, and the channel number is “2” when audio data for leftand right speakers are recorded), and the application of emphasis to theaudio data. The audio pack 43 further includes audio data 43 a which isthe substantial audio information portion and is constituted by aplurality of audio frames AF. In the above mentioned data structure, theportion of the audio pack 43 except for the pack header 64 constitutesthe audio packet APT.

The audio attribute information is also recorded in the control data 11of each VTS. FIG. 4 shows the audio attribute information 12 in thecontrol data 11. As illustrated, for all VTSs, the audio attributeinformation of the audio information in the VTS is recorded in itscontrol data 11. FIG. 5 shows an example of the audio attributeinformation 12. As shown in FIG. 5, the audio attribute information 12includes a coding mode 15 h of the audio information, multi-channelinformation 15 i, an audio type 15 j, an application type 15 k, aquantization bit number 15 m, a sampling frequency 15 n, a channelnumber 15 o, and an emphasis 15 p. The coding mode 15 h prescribes thecoding mode of audio data, such as Dolby-AC3, linear PCM and the like,and the audio type 15 j prescribes whether or not the audio informationincludes words (e.g., words-of-song). The application type 15 kindicates, if the audio information is of multi-channels, the usage ofthe multi-channel data, and includes karaoke, surround and the like. Thequantization bit number 15 m and the sampling frequency 15 n indicatethe quantization bit number and the sampling frequency in coding theaudio information, respectively. The channel number 15 o indicates thechannel number of the audio information, and the emphasis 15 p indicateswhether or not the emphasis is applied to the audio information.

Further, the audio attribute information is also recorded in the controldata in the video manager 2 as a part of audio centralized information13. FIG. 6 shows an example of the audio centralized information 13. Asseen in FIG. 6, the audio centralized information 13 in the control data11 of the video manager 2 includes an aggregation of audio managementinformation described in the control data 11 of each VTS. In the exampleof FIG. 6, the DVD includes three Groups, and each Group corresponds toone VTS. As mentioned above, the Group corresponds to one album such asa CD, and the user recognizes that the DVD includes three differentalbums. The track corresponds to a song. The Group-3 in FIG. 6corresponds to the above-mentioned “Collection”. Namely, while the userrecognizes the Group-3 as a group different from the Group-1 andGroup-2, the Group-3 is an aggregation of the substantial audio datacollected according to a certain theme or concept and are, in fact,recorded in the Group-1 and Group-2.

The audio centralized information 13 further includes the start and endaddresses of the tracks, which are the absolute addresses on the DVD.Further, the audio centralized information 13 includes, as the audioattribute information, at least the sampling frequency, the quantizationbit number, the channel number and the emphasis, which are essential forthe reproduction of the audio information, from the audio attributeinformation 12 recorded in the control data 11 of each VTS as mentioned.The audio centralized information 13 further includes the playback timeof each track and the total playback time of each Group, which are usedfor the playback time management.

In this manner, each Group (VTS) includes the audio attributeinformation 12 in the control data 11 and the reproduction of the songsin the Groups are enabled by referring to the attribute information 12.However, in order to obtain the audio attribute information 12, it isnecessary to access to the control data 11 in the VTS to read out thecontents. Since audio information of different attribute can be recordedin different VTSs on the DVD, it is likely that plural songs ofdifferent attributes, belonging to the different Groups, aresuccessively reproduced. Firstly, this may take place if the user choosethe songs of different Groups by his manual selection operation of songsto be reproduced. Alternatively, this may also take place whenreproducing the Group called “Collection” such as the Group-3 in FIG. 6,because the Collection includes the substantial audio information whichare actually recorded in other Groups and hence generally includestracks of different attributes in a mixed manner.

In such case, since the audio attribute such as the sampling frequency,the quantization bit number, and so on changes as the reproduction ofthe songs goes on, the reproduction apparatus needs a certain period oftime in which to adapt itself to such change. When reproducing the songsof different attribute successively, if the audio centralizedinformation 13 is not prepared and recorded in the video manager 2, thereproduction apparatus in no way recognize the attribute change until itsearches the audio attribute information in the VTS corresponding to theGroup including the next track and then obtains the attribute of thenext song. Therefore, if the search or track jump to the next song(i.e., the pickup movement) is completed in relatively short timeperiod, the reproduction of the next song begins before the reproductionapparatus recognizes the attribute change and complete the necessaryadaptation such as the change of the sampling frequency, therebydisabling the correct reproduction of the initial part of the next song.Normally the reproduction apparatus is not designed to notify thecompletion of the adaptation such as the change of the samplingfrequency to the controller that controls reading the DVD, and hencesuch an undesirable situation may likely take place.

In this view, in the present invention, the audio management informationin the control data 11 of each VTS is aggregated and then recorded inthe video manager 2 as a part of the audio centralized information 13.When the DVD is set to the reproduction apparatus, the audio centralizedinformation 13 in the video manager 2 is read out and stored in a memorywithin the controller of a reproduction apparatus. By this, when audioinformation of different audio attribute is successively reproduced likethe case of reproducing Collection, the audio attribute of the song tobe reproduced next can be obtained, in advance, by referring to theaudio attribute information in the audio centralized information 13.This may overcome the above mentioned problem in successivelyreproducing songs of different attributes. The actual operation of thereproduction apparatus will be described later in detail.

[II] Embodiment of Recording Apparatus

Next, an embodiment of recording apparatus for recording the abovementioned audio centralized information including the audio attributeinformation onto the DVD 1 will be explained with reference to FIG. 7.At first, a construction and an operation of the recording apparatus asthe embodiment is explained with reference to FIG. 7.

As shown in FIG. 7, a recording apparatus S1 as the present embodimentis provided with: an audio source 70; a memory 71; a signal processingunit 72; a hard disk (HD) device 73; a hard disk (HD) device 74; acontroller 75; a multiplexer 76; a modulator 77; and a mastering device78.

Nextly, an operation of the present embodiment will be explained.

Recording information R, which is a material of audio information to berecorded on the DVD 1, is temporarily recorded in the audio source 70 ina manner-divided into each information unit. Then, the recordinginformation R temporarily recorded in the audio source 70 is outputtedto the signal processing unit 72 by a request from the signal processingunit 72.

The signal processing unit 72 applies an A/D (Analog to Digital)converting process and a signal compressing process to the recordinginformation R outputted from the audio source 70, applies an compressionif necessary, and then outputs it as an audio signal Sr. After that, theaudio signal Sr outputted therefrom is temporarily stored into the harddisk device 73.

Along with this, the memory 71 temporarily stores the controlinformation which is inputted beforehand on the basis of a cue sheet ST,on which the control information for controlling the reproduction of therecording information R (e.g., the control information of the packheaders for constituting the video manager 2, the control data 11, thenavi-packs 41 and the respective audio packs 43 shown in FIG. 1) isrecorded. Then, the memory 71 outputs it as a control information signalSi on the basis of a request from the signal processing unit 72.

Then, the signal processing unit 72 generates and outputs an accessinformation signal Sac corresponding to the audio information Sr withreferring to a time code Tt, on the basis of the time code Ttcorresponding to the recording information R outputted from the audiosource 70 and the control information signal Si outputted from thememory 71. Then, the access information signal Sac is temporarily storedin the hard disk device 74. The above described process is performed forthe whole recording information R.

When the above described process is finished as for the whole recordinginformation R, the controller 75 reads out the audio signal Sr from thehard disk device 73, reads out the access information signal Sac fromthe hard disk device 74, generates additional information Da on thebasis of these read out signals, and stores the additional informationDa into the hard disk device 74 as the additional information Sa. Theconcrete contents of the audio centralized information 13 and the audioattribute information 12 according to the present invention has beendetermined in advance, for each VTS by the Group (VTS) unit, by theproducer of the DVD 1, and is recorded in the hard disk 74. By thecontrol of the signal processing unit 72, the audio centralizedinformation 13 and the audio attribute information 12 are included inthe additional information Da. Namely, the audio attribute information68 (see. FIG. 3) is included in the additional information Da asinformation to be recorded in each audio pack, the audio attributeinformation 12 (see. FIG. 4) is included in the additional informationDa as information to be recorded in the control data 11 in each VTS 3.In addition, the audio centralized information 13 (see. FIG. 6) isincluded in the additional information Da as information to be recordedin the video manager 2.

On the other hand, the controller 75 performs a time management for eachof the operations of the signal processing unit 72, the hard disk device73 and the hard disk device 74, and reads out the additional informationDa from the hard disk device 74, so that the controller 75 generates andoutputs an additional information signal Sa corresponding to the readout additional information Da, and generates and outputs an informationselection signal Scc to time-axis-multiplex the audio signal Sr and theadditional information signal Sa.

After that, the audio signal Sr and the additional information signal Saare read out from the hard disk devices 73 and 74, time-axis-multiplexedby the multiplexer 76 based on the information selection signal Scc, andthen outputted as an information added compressed multiplexed signalSap. In the stage of the information added compressed multiplexed signalSap, the information to be recorded has the physical structure (physicalformat) shown in FIGS. 1 and 4 as the result of the multiplexing of thecontrol information and the audio information by the switching operationaccording to the information selection signal Scc from the controller75. In addition, each audio pack 43 has the data structure shown in FIG.3.

Then, the modulator 77 adds an error correction code (ECC), such as aReed Solomon code, and applies a modulation such as an eight to sixteen(8-16) modulation with respect to the information added compressedmultiplexed signal Sap outputted from the multiplexer 76, and generatesand outputs a disk record signal Sm to the mastering device 78.

Finally, the mastering device 78 records the disk record signal Sm to astamper disk, which becomes a master (i.e. a cutting dye) for theproduction of an optical disk. Then, by use of this stamper disk, anoptical disk as a replica disk, which can be on sale in the generalmarket, i.e. the DVD 1, can be produced by a replication device notillustrated.

By the above-described operation, there is produced a DVD disk whichincludes the audio attribute information 68 in the audio pack 43, theaudio attribute information 12 in the control data 11 of each VTS andthe audio centralized information 13 in the video manager 2.

[III] Embodiment of Reproduction Apparatus

(1) Reproduction Apparatus

Next, an embodiment of reproduction apparatus for reproducing theinformation recorded on the DVD 1 by the above mentioned recordingapparatus will be explained with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9.

At first, a construction and an operation of the reproduction apparatusas the embodiment is explained with reference to FIG. 8.

As shown in FIG. 8, a reproduction apparatus S2 according to the presentembodiment is provided with: an optical pickup 80; a demodulate andcorrect unit 81; stream switches 82 and 84; a track buffer 83; a systembuffer 85; a demultiplexer 86; a VBV (Video Buffer Verifier) buffer 87;a video decoder 88; a sub picture buffer 89; a sub picture decoder 90; amixer 91; an audio buffer 92; an audio decoder 93; a PCI (PresentationControl Information) buffer 94; a PCI decoder 95; a high light buffer96; a high light decoder 97; an input unit 98; a display unit 99; asystem controller 100; a drive controller 101; a spindle motor 102; anda slider motor 103. The construction shown in FIG. 8 only illustratesthe portions related to the video and audio reproduction of thereproduction apparatus S2. The description and the detailed explanationas for servo circuits to servo-control the optical pickup 80, thespindle motor 102, the slider motor 103 and the like are omitted sincethey are constructed in the same manner as the conventional arts.

Nextly, an overall operation of the present embodiment is explained.

The optical pickup 80 includes a laser diode (not shown), a beamsplitter, an objective lens, a photo-detector and the like notillustrated, and irradiates a light beam B as a reproduction light withrespect to the DVD 1. The optical pickup 80 receives a reflection lightof the light beam B from the DVD 1, and outputs a detection signal Spcorresponding to information pits formed on the DVD 1. At this time, thetracking servo control and the focus servo control are operated withrespect to the objective lens etc. of the optical pickup 80 in the samemanner as the conventional art so that the light beam B can beirradiated precisely onto the information track of the DVD 1 and thatthe light beam B can be focused on the information record surface of theDVD 1.

The detection signal Sp outputted from the optical pickup 80 is inputtedto the demodulate and correct unit 81, where a signal demodulationprocess and an error correct process are applied to it to generate ademodulation signal Sdm, which is outputted to the stream switch 82 andthe system buffer 85.

The opening and closing operation of the stream switch 82, to which thedemodulation signal Sdm is inputted, is controlled by a switch signalSsw1 from the drive controller 101. When it is closed, the stream switch82 passes therethrough the inputted demodulation signal Sdm to the trackbuffer 83 as it is. When it is opened, the demodulation signal Sdm isnot outputted therethrough, so that unnecessary or useless information(signal) is not inputted to the track buffer 83.

The track buffer 83, to which the demodulation signal Sdm is inputted,consists of a FIFO (First In First Out) memory, for example. The trackbuffer 83 temporarily stores the inputted demodulation signal Sdm, andcontinuously outputs the stored demodulation signal Sdm when the streamswitch 84 is closed. The track buffer 83 compensates for a difference orfluctuation in the data amount between respective GOP under the MEPG 2method, and continuously outputs the demodulation signal Sdm, which isdiscontinuously inputted due to a track jump in the aforementionedseamless reproduction, in case of reading the data divided into theinterleaved units IU, so as to avoid the interruption of thereproduction due to the discontinuity.

The opening and closing operation of the stream switch 84, to which thedemodulation signal Sdm is continuously inputted, is controlled by aswitch signal Ssw2 from the system controller 100 such that the variousbuffers at its posterior stage may not be over-flown or, on thecontrary, may not become empty to stop the decoding process, in theseparating process by the demultiplexer 86.

On the other hand, the system buffer 85, to which the demodulationsignal Sdm is inputted in parallel with the track buffer 83, accumulatesthe video manager 2, the control data 11 of the VTS 3 and the like(refer to FIG. 1) which are detected firstly upon loading the DVD 1 andwhich are related to the whole information recorded on the DVD 1. Then,the system buffer 85 outputs the accumulated data as a controlinformation Sc to the system controller 100, and temporarily stores theDSI data 51 for each navi-pack 41 as the occasion demands whilereproducing the information, to output it also as the controlinformation Sc.

The demultiplexer 86, to which the demodulation signal Sdm iscontinuously inputted through the stream switch 84, separates the videodata, the audio data, the sub picture data and the PCI data 50 for eachnavi-pack 41, respectively, from the inputted demodulation signal Sdm,and outputs them as a video signal Sv, a sub picture signal Ssp, anaudio signal Sad and a PCI signal Spc to the VBV buffer 87, the subpicture buffer 89, the audio buffer 92 and the PCI buffer 94,respectively.

The demultiplexer 86 extracts the pack header 64 and the packet header65 from each pack (including audio pack 43) and the packet (includingaudio packet APT), and outputs respective information to the systemcontroller 100 as the header signal Shd. The header signal Shd includesthe pack header 64, the packet header 65, the sub-stream ID information66, the audio frame information 67 and the audio data information 68 ofthe audio pack 43, which are separated in the demultiplexer 86.

The audio signal Sad includes the audio data 43 a which is divided intothe audio packs 43 shown in FIG. 3, and each audio packs 43 includes theaudio frames AF as shown in FIG. 3.

The VBV buffer 87, to which the video signal Sv is inputted, consists ofa FIFO memory, for example. The VBV buffer 87 temporarily stores thevideo signal Sv and outputs it to the video decoder 88. The VBV buffer87 compensates the difference or fluctuation in the data amount betweenrespective pictures of the video signal Sv compressed by the MPEG 2method. Then, the video signal Sv in which the differences in the dataamount are compensated for, is outputted to the video decoder 88, and isdecoded by the MPEG 2 method to be outputted as a decoded video signalSvd to the mixer 91.

On the other hand, the sub picture buffer 89, to which the sub picturesignal Ssp is inputted, temporarily stores the inputted sub picturesignal Ssp, and outputs it to the sub picture decoder 90. The subpicture buffer 89 is to synchronize the sub picture data 44 included inthe sub picture signal Ssp with the video data 42 corresponding to thesub picture data 44, and to output it. Then, the sub picture signal Sspsynchronized with the video data 42 is inputted to the sub picturedecoder 90 and is decoded to be outputted as a decoded sub picturesignal Sspd to the mixer 91.

The decoded video signal Svd outputted from the video decoder 88 and thedecoded sub picture signal Sspd outputted from the sub picture decoder90 (which is in synchronization with the corresponding decoded videosignal Svd) are mixed together by the mixer 91, and are outputted as afinal video signal Svp to be displayed to a display device such as a CRT(Cathode Ray Tube) device not illustrated.

The audio buffer 92, to which the audio signal Sad is inputted, consistsof a FIFO memory, for example. The audio buffer 92 temporarily storesthe audio signal Sad and outputs it to the audio decoder 93. The audiobuffer 92 is to synchronize the audio signal Sad with the video signalSv or the sub picture signal Ssp including the corresponding videoinformation on the basis of the header control information Shc outputtedby the system controller 100, and delays the audio signal Sad inaccordance with the output condition of the corresponding videoinformation. Then, the audio signal Sad, which is time-adjusted tosynchronize with the corresponding video information, is outputted tothe audio decoder 93. Then, a reproduction processing of the linear PCMsystem is applied to the audio signal Sad based on the header controlsignal Shc outputted by the system controller 100, and the resultantsignal is outputted as a decoded audio signal Sadd to a speaker etc. notillustrated. It is noted that, in the audio DVD including only audioinformation, the synchronization with the video information isunnecessary. The processing conducted in the audio decoder 93 will bedescribed later in detail.

If it is detected by the system controller 100 that it is necessary totemporarily stop (pause) the audio voice in the reproduction immediatelyafter an access to desired information, a pause signal Sca is outputtedfrom the system controller 100 to the audio decoder 93, so that theoutput of the decoded audio signal Sadd is stopped temporarily at theaudio decoder 93.

The PCI buffer 94, to which the PCI signal Spc is inputted, consists ofa FIFO memory, for example. The PCI buffer 94 temporarily stores theinputted PCI signal Spc and outputs it to the PCI decoder 95. The PCIbuffer 94 is to synchronize the PCI data, which is included in the PCIsignal Spc, with the video data, the audio data and the sub picture datacorresponding to the PCI data, and apply the PCI data to the video dataand the like. Then, from the PCI signal Spc, which is synchronized withthe corresponding the video data and the like by the PCI buffer 94, ahigh light information included in the PCI packet 50 is separated orextracted by the PCI decoder 95, and is outputted as a high light signalShi to the high light buffer 96. The portion of the PCI packet 50 otherthan the high light information is outputted as a PCI information signalSpci to the system controller 100.

The high light buffer 96, to which the high light signal Shi isinputted, consists of a FIFO memory, for example. The high light buffer96 temporarily stores the inputted high light signal Shi and outputs itto the high light decoder 97. The high light buffer 96 is totime-compensate the high light signal Shi so as to precisely perform achange in the display condition of the selection item (selectionbutton), which corresponds to the high light information, incorrespondence with the sub picture signal Ssp which includes the videoinformation for the high light information. Then, the time-compensatedhigh light signal Shi is decoded by the high light decoder 97, and theinformation included in the high light signal Shi is outputted as adecoded high light signal Shid to the system controller 100. Thedemodulated high light signal Shid includes the aforementionedinformation to set the register in the system controller 100.

The system controller 100 outputs the high light control signal Sch onthe basis of the demodulated high light signal Shid, in order to changethe display condition of the high light information. At this time, thesystem controller 100 receives the selection by the input signal Sinfrom the input unit 98 and outputs the high light control signal Sch onthe basis of the effective period information which indicates theeffective period of the high light information included in thedemodulated high light signal Shid, so that the selection operationusing the menu screen based on the high light information is enabled.

On the basis of the control information Sc inputted from the systembuffer 85, the header signal Shd inputted from the demultiplexer 86, thePCI information signal Spci inputted from the PCI decoder 95 and aninput signal Sin inputted from the input unit 98 such as a remotecontroller, the system controller 100 outputs the aforementioned switchsignal Ssw2, the stream selection signal Slc, the header control signalShc, the pause signal Sca and the high light control signal Sch tocorrectly perform the reproduction corresponding to those input signals,and also outputs a display signal Sdp to display an operation conditionetc. of the reproduction apparatus S2 to the display unit 99 such as theliquid crystal device.

Further, the system controller 100 outputs a seamless control signalScsl corresponding to the track jump process, to the drive controller101, when it detects by the DSI information signal Sdsi that it isnecessary to perform the track jump process such as a search in order toperform the seamless reproduction.

Then, the drive controller 101, to which the seamless control signalScsl is inputted, outputs a drive signal Sd to the spindle motor 102 orthe slider motor 103. By this drive signal Sd, the spindle motor 102 orthe slider motor 103 moves the optical pickup 80 such that the recordposition to be reproduced on the DVD 1 is irradiated with the light beamB (refer to an arrow of a broken line in FIG. 8), and the spindle motor102 CLV-controls (Constant Linear Velocity-controls) the rotation numberof the DVD 1. Along with this, the drive controller 101 outputs theaforementioned switch signal Ssw1 on the basis of the seamless controlsignal Scsl, so as to open the stream switch 82 when the demodulationsignal Sdm is not outputted from the demodulate and correct unit 81while the optical pickup 80 is being moved, and so as to close thestream switch 82 when the demodulation signal Sdm is started to beoutputted, so that the demodulation signal Sdm is outputted to the trackbuffer 83.

(2) Audio Decoder

Next, the configuration and the operation of the audio decoder 93 whichis particularly relevant to the present invention will be described.FIG. 9 shows the configuration of the audio decoder 93. As shown, theaudio decoder 93 is provided with a signal processing unit 120 includingdigital filters, a D/A converter 121, an analog output circuit 122including amplifiers, a digital output circuit 123, a systemmicrocomputer 124 including a RAM 124 a, and a clock circuit 125.

The system microcomputer 124 exchanges the control signal Sca with thesystem controller 100 to control the performance of the clock circuit125, the signal processing unit 120, the D/A converter 121 and theanalog output circuit 122. The system microcomputer 124 has the RAM 124a in its inside. The RAM 124 a temporarily stores the audio attributeinformation which is supplied from the system controller 100 as thecontrol signal Sca.

The system microcomputer 124 refers to the audio attribute informationstored in the RAM 124 a, and supplies the contents thereof to the clockcircuit 125 and the signal processing unit 120. Specifically, the systemmicrocomputer 124 supplies the sampling frequency information in theaudio attribute information to the clock circuit 125. The clock circuit125 has an oscillator, and supplies the clock signal fs corresponding tothe designated sampling frequency to the signal processing unit 120. Inaddition, the system microcomputer 124 supplies information of thesampling frequency, the quantization bit number, the channel number, theapplication of emphasis, which are included in the audio attributeinformation, to the signal processing unit 120, and supplies the channelnumber information to the D/A converter 121. Further, the systemmicrocomputer 124 supplies information such as the amplitude level ofsignals of the respective channels to the analog output circuit 122. Theamplitude information for each channel may be included in the audioattribute information and supplied from the system controller 100.

The signal processing unit 120 utilizes the clock signal fs from theclock circuit 125 to perform the processing including the decoding andband-limiting of the audio signal from the audio buffer 92 in accordancewith the information, from the system microcomputer 124, such as thecoding mode (the linear PCM or DOLBY-AC3), the sampling frequency andthe quantization bit number. Further, the signal processing unit 120performs the de-emphasis processing based on the information of theapplication of emphasis and outputs the resultant signal to the D/Aconverter 121. The D/A converter 121 divides the inputted signal intothe plural channels in response to the channel information obtained fromthe system microcomputer 124, and then outputs the divided signals tothe analog output circuit 122 as the analog signals of the respectivechannels. The analog output circuit 122 applies appropriateamplification onto the signals of the respective channels to output themto speakers (not shown) as the analog audio signals. Further, the signalprocessing unit 120 outputs the digital audio signal Sadd to externalvia the digital output circuit 123.

Next, the performance of the audio decoder 93 at the time ofreproduction will be described. When the track (i.e., song) to bereproduced next is designated, the reproduction apparatus S2 refers tothe audio attribute information in the audio centralized information 13of the video manager 2 to control the operation in the audio decoder 93according to the audio attribute information of the designated track. Asshown in FIG. 6, the address information on the DVD of the recordingposition of each track is also recorded in the audio centralizedinformation 13 of the video manager 2. Accordingly, the systemcontroller 100 supplies the control signal Scs1 to the drive controller101 based on the address information (start address) to transfer thepickup 80 to the position of the start address. This process commencesimmediately after the user's playback instruction of the track, i.e.,timely in parallel with the above mentioned control performed in theaudio decoder 93.

After transferring the pickup 80 to the position of the start address ofthe designated track, the system controller 100 temporarily makes thepickup 80 at a pause state. Namely, the start of the reading informationis deferred. This is required to ensure that the reading information(i.e., reproduction of the track) is started after the audio attributesetting is completed. The time required for the system controller 100and the system microcomputer 124 in the system controller 100 to set theaudio attribute in the audio decoder 93 is approximately the samebetween the same reproduction apparatuses. However, the time requiredfor an external digital amplifier and a D/A converter to lock in thedigital output signal from the digital output circuit 123 varies fromdevice to device, and the time is normally about 1 or 2 seconds and notlonger than 5 seconds. The time required to transfer the pickup 80 tothe position of the designated track varies dependently upon theposition of the designated track (i.e., the distance from the currentpickup position). Therefore, the transfer is completed shortly if thepickup is transferred to the relatively near position. In that case, ifthe information reading by the pickup is started immediately after thecompletion of the pickup movement, the audio information may not becorrectly reproduced or the above mentioned external digital amplifierand the D/A converter may not be locked because the audio attributechange is not completed yet. For this reason, the system controller 100transfers the pickup to the position of the start address and thencommences the information reading after the pause state for apredetermined time period X. The audio attribute setting in the audiodecoder 93 normally takes 1 second and the external digital amplifierand the D/A converter take normally 1 or 2 second for locking. Namely,they never exceed 5 seconds, and hence the user may be entitled todetermined the pause state time period X of the pickup 80 between 0.5 to5 seconds, as a user-alterable function, in consideration of theprocessing speed of the system. Of course, any default value may be setwithin the above range.

(3) Successive Reproduction

Next, the successive reproduction control of plural tracks (songs) willbe described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 10. It is assumedthat, when the operation of the flowchart of FIG. 10 is started, acertain song recorded on the same DVD is being reproduced. The audiocentralized information 13 shown in FIG. 6 is read out beforehand fromthe video manager 2 of the DVD and is stored in the memory 100 a in thesystem controller 100. It is noted that the operation shown in FIG. 10is mainly performed by the system controller 100 and the systemmicrocomputer 124 in the audio decoder 93.

First, the system controller 100 receives the song change instruction(step S1). The reception of the song change instruction is made inplural patterns. The one example is the case where the user chooses oneof the plural Groups recorded on the DVD to reproduce it. For example,when the user refers to the audio centralized information 13 shown inFIG. 6 and chose the Group-1, the system controller 100 reproduces thetrack-1 to track-6 of the Group-1. At this time, the song is changedfrom the track-1 to track-2 and then from track-2 to track-3, and thesong change instruction is supplied to the system controller 100 at theending timing of the tracks, i.e., transitions of the tracks.

When the song change instruction is inputted, the system microcomputer124 then supplies the control signal to the signal processing unit 120to allow the internal digital filter to output digital “0” data to theD/A converter 121 (step S3). By this, the output analog signal of theD/A converter 121 becomes zero-level, and consequently the audio outputis muted.

Next, the system controller 100 refers to the audio centralizedinformation 13 in the memory 100 a to obtain the audio attribute of thetrack to be reproduced next (step S5). The audio attribute informationobtained this case includes at least the sampling frequency, thequantization bit number, the channel number and the application ofemphasis. In addition, the system controller 100 simultaneously obtainsthe start address and the end address of the next song from the audiocentralized information 13.

Next, the system controller 100 supplies the audio attribute informationthus obtained to the system microcomputer 124 of the audio decoder 93.The system microcomputer 124 compares the received audio attributeinformation of the next track with the audio attribute information ofthe track being reproduced until then, which is stored in the internalRAM 124 a (step S7). If they are the same, the process goes to step S17because the audio attribute change is unnecessary.

On the other hand, if they are not the same, it is necessary to changethe audio attribute in the audio decoder 93. Therefore, the systemmicrocomputer 124 controls the clock circuit 125 to change the samplingclock frequency fs (step S9), and then controls the signal processingunit 120 to output the digital “0” data, which is adapted to thesampling frequency and the quantization bit number thus changed, to theD/A converter 121 (step S11). By this, the D/A converter 121 changes thesampling frequency for the digital-to-analog conversion using theinternal PLL circuit. Further, the system microcomputer 124 controls thesignal processing unit 120 to change the emphasis application and thechannel number (step S13). By the process from step S9 to S13, the audioattribute change in the audio decoder 93 is completed. It is noted that,while the actual setting change in the audio decoder 93 normally takesabout 1 second as mentioned, this is peculiar to the device and there isno large difference between devices. However, the external digitalamplifier and the D/A converter may have relatively large locking timedifference. The pause state time period X should be determined inconsideration of these times. It is noted that the pause state timeperiod X may be user-alterable as a function of the reproductionapparatus.

Next, the system controller 100 issues the search instruction to thedrive controller 101 to transfer the pickup 80 to the start addressobtained in step S5 (step S15), and then starts counting the passage oftime (i.e., the search time T) (step S17). Next, it is determinedwhether the pickup transfer is completed or not (step S19). If it iscompleted, the counting of the search time T is terminated (step S21).

Next, the system controller 100 compares the search time T thus countedwith the predetermined pause state time period X (step S23). If thesearch time X is longer than the time period X (step S23: NO), it issupposed that the audio attribute change in the audio decoder 93 as wellas the locking of the external digital amplifier and the D/A converterhas been completed, and the reproduction instruction of the track isissued and the audio output muting is released (step S27). In response,the reproduction of the next track begins. On the contrary, if thesearch time T is shorter than the pause state time period X (stepS23:YES), the system controller 100 waits for the difference time ofthem (i.e., X−T), and then issues the reproduction instruction of thetrack (step S27). Namely, the reproduction of the next track neverbegins before the time period X passes from the start of the tracksearch (step S17), and this ensures the correct reproduction of the nexttrack which requires the attribute change. In this way, the successivereproduction of the songs are executed.

Next, the description will be given of the examples, in the successivesong reproduction, in which the audio attribute changes and does notchange. If the user instructed the reproduction of the track-1 totrack-6 of the Group-1 in the this order in the reproduction of the DVDhaving the audio centralized information shown in FIG. 6, the trackchange instruction to the next track is given to the system controller100 at the reproduction ending timings of the tracks. However, in thiscase, since the next track has the same audio attribute, the step S7results in YES and the reproduction of the next track is continued withthe same audio attribute.

On the contrary, it is assumed that the user instructs the reproductionof the track-1 to track-5 of the Group-3 in this order. Since thegroup-3 is the Group of Collection, the songs included therein may havetracks having different audio attribute. For example, when thereproduction goes from the track-1 to the track-2 of the Group-3 or fromthe track-4 to the track-5 of the Group-3, the audio attribute changes.Therefore, the step S7 results in NO, the audio attribute is changed tothe new attribute in the audio decoder 93, and the reproduction isstarted.

In this case, if the audio centralized information is not recorded inthe video manager 2 of the DVD, the system controller 100 is required tosearch for the audio attribute information 12 (see. FIG. 4) of the VTS,which includes the next track, from the control data 11 for the pluralVTS recorded in the internal memory 100 a, and then to obtain theidentical audio attribute information. Therefore, it takes longer timefrom the receipt of the song change instruction until the completion ofthe audio attribute change in the audio decoder 93. If the reproductionof the next song is started before the completion of the audio attributechange, the initial portion of the song may not be correctly reproduced.If the reproduction is started after the completion of the audioattribute change, the user should wait for a long time until the nextsong is started.

In this respect, according to the present invention, since the audioattribute information is recorded in the video manager 2 as a part ofthe audio centralized information, the audio attribute of the next songmay be quickly obtained by referring to the video manager 2, therebyavoiding the above mentioned problem and enabling the smooth transitionof the songs having different attributes. In addition, since thereproduction is not started within the pause state time period X afterthe reception of the song change instruction, it is possible to ensurethe time necessary for the audio attribute change in the audio decoder93 and the time necessary for the lock operation of the external digitalamplifier and the D/A converter, irrespective of the search timerequired to transfer the pickup to the position of the next track,thereby accomplishing the correct reproduction.

(4) Alternative Reproduction Without Audio Centralized Information

The above description made on the assumption that the audio centralizedinformation is recorded in the video manager 2. However, if the audioattribute information is not recorded in the video manager, the quickand smooth reproduction can be made by the alternative method describedbelow.

Normally, information of the video manager 2 and the control data 11 ofeach VTS are stored in the memory 100 a in the system controller 100when the audio DVD is set to the reproduction apparatus. Therefore, thereproduction apparatus may be so designed as to produce the audiocentralized information table like FIG. 6 using the audio attributeinformation 12 in the VTSs at this timing, and then the table thusproduced is stored in a memory in the reproduction apparatus.Specifically, the system controller 100 refers to the VTS information inthe video manager 2 to obtain the recording address of the VTS, and thenmoves to the address to obtain the audio attribute information includedin the control data of the VTS. Then, the contents of the audioattribute information is read out to produce table in the internalmemory 100 a. Next, the system controller 100 specifies the PGC and PGCIconstituting the corresponding PTT from the PTT search pointers recordedin the VTS, and detects and stores the recording address on the DVD ofthe audio information (track) corresponding to the PTT into the memory100 a. By executing the above processing for all VTSs, the systemcontroller 100 produces the centralized information table as shown inFIG. 6 in the memory 100 a.

At the time of the reproduction, upon receipt of the track changeinstruction, the system controller 100 controls the reproduction of thetracks based on, not the audio attribute information 12 in each VTS, butthe audio centralized information table thus prepared in the memory 100a. By this, the quick and smooth reproduction may be performed even inthe case of the DVD in which audio centralized information is notrecorded in the video manager.

In the above description, the reproduction of the tracks in the Group ofCollection is exemplified as a case in which songs of differentattributes are successively reproduced. However, the application of thepresent invention is not limited to this feature. For example, if theuser designates a certain track in the Group-2 as a next song to bereproduced during the reproduction of a certain track in the Group-1 inFIG. 6, the tracks of different audio attributes are successivelyreproduced. The present invention is applicable to any cases like theabove case in which plural tracks (songs) are successively reproduced.In addition, the present invention enables reproduction and recording ofrandomly selected songs having the same attribute with a constantinterval between the songs.

1-15. (canceled)
 16. An information storage medium on which audioinformation is recorded, the audio information being logically dividedinto a track corresponding to music and a group comprising a pluralityof the tracks, wherein information is bundled and recorded as audiocentralized information on the information storage medium, the bundledand recorded information including at least attribute information of thetrack, a group number of the group in which the track is included, atrack number, a start address and an end address of the track; the audioinformation is recorded as a title set such that it is physicallydivided into a plurality of cells, the title set including the pluralityof the cells and reproduction control information, the reproductioncontrol information including at least attribute information of theaudio information and reproduction orders of the cells; and the titleset is classified into a first type of the title set and a second typeof the title set, the first type of the title set including thereproduction control information and the audio information, and thesecond type of the title set including only the reproduction controlinformation.
 17. The information storage medium according to claim 16,wherein the audio centralized information is recorded at a managementarea where management information for managing the audio information isrecorded.
 18. The information storage medium according to claim 16,wherein the reproduction control information further includesinformation concerning a recording position on the information recordmedium.
 19. A reproduction apparatus which reproduces informationrecorded on the information storage medium according claim 16, whereinthe reproduction apparatus comprises: a reading device which readsinformation; a reproduction device which reproduces the audioinformation; and a control device which controls the reproduction deviceon the basis of the audio centralized information.
 20. A reproductionapparatus which reproduces information recorded on the informationstorage medium according claim 16, wherein the reproduction apparatuscomprises: a reading device which reads information; a reproductiondevice which reproduces the audio information; and a control devicewhich controls the reproduction device on the basis of the reproductioncontrol information.
 21. A reproduction method which reproducesinformation recorded on the information storage medium according claim16, wherein the reproduction method comprises: a reading process whichreads information; a reproduction process which reproduces the audioinformation; and a control process which controls the reproductionprocess on the basis of the audio centralized information.
 22. Areproduction method which reproduces information recorded on theinformation storage medium according claim 16, wherein the reproductionmethod comprises: a reading process which reads information; areproduction process which reproduces the audio information; and acontrol process which controls the reproduction process on the basis ofthe reproduction control information.
 23. A recording apparatus whichcomprises: a signal processing device which generates audio informationand additional information; and a recording device which records thegenerated audio information and the generated additional informationonto an information storage medium, wherein the audio information islogically divided into a track corresponding to music and a groupcomprising a plurality of the tracks; the additional informationincludes reproduction control information and audio centralizedinformation of the audio information; the audio centralized informationincludes at least attribute information of the track, a group number ofthe group in which the track is included, a track number, a startaddress and an end address of the track; the audio information isrecorded as a title set such that it is physically divided into aplurality of cells, the title set including the plurality of the cellsand reproduction control information, the reproduction controlinformation including at least attribute information of the audioinformation and reproduction orders of the cells; and the title set isclassified into a first type of the title set and a second type of thetitle set, the first type of the title set including the reproductioncontrol information and the audio information, and the second type ofthe title set including only the reproduction control information.
 24. Arecording method which comprises: a signal processing process whichgenerates audio information and additional information; and a recordingprocess which records the generated audio information and the generatedadditional information onto an information storage medium, wherein theaudio information is logically divided into a track corresponding tomusic and a group comprising a plurality of the tracks; the additionalinformation includes reproduction control information and audiocentralized information of the audio information; the audio centralizedinformation includes at least attribute information of the track, agroup number of the group in which the track is included, a tracknumber, a start address and an end address of the track; the audioinformation is recorded as a title set such that it is physicallydivided into a plurality of cells, the title set including the pluralityof the cells and reproduction control information, the reproductioncontrol information including at least attribute information of theaudio information and reproduction orders of the cells; and the titleset is classified into a first type of the title set and a second typeof the title set, the first type of the title set including thereproduction control information and the audio information, and thesecond type of the title set including only the reproduction controlinformation.